Dujardin does the double on a scorching second day at Hartpury

Local Olympic legend Charlotte Dujardin left the rest of the field standing in both classes she contested on day two of Hartpury’s Festival of Dressage.

With two rides in the Elite Stallions Young Horse Prix St Georges, in which riders were competing for a spot in the final on Saturday night’s gala evening, Dujardin stormed the top of the leaderboard by winning with more than 10% in hand over second place on Mount St John Freestyle with a score of 80.96%.

Second placed Daniel Greenwood came in on a score of 70.39% riding Lukien Von Tespe while Hartpury degree student and equine academy member Lucy Pincus took third on her father David’s Sheepcote Suncrest with 68.42%.

Dujardin’s second win of the day was with another Mount St John horse, this time on Mount St John Kom Fairytale in the Zamar FEI Intermediate I B with 74.04%. Becky Edwards riding Headmore Delegate nipped into second on 71.62% while Rachael Clark took the third spot with 70.18%.

Dujardin said: “I’m so happy with her [Mount St John Kom Fairytale] – she is quite inexperienced for her age and has never been in an atmosphere like this. Today was her first ever Inter I and she was a little bit tired after competing for two days in the heat. I’m excited about how well she behaves at a competition – she wants to do the job and is a grand prix horse for the future.”

Meanwhile in the Intermediate I A it was Sadie Smith who took top spot, edging less than one percent ahead of early leader, and eventual runners-up Maria Eilberg and Royal Concert, to score 72.06% with Keystone Dynamite. Alice Peternell rounded off the placings in this hotly contested class with Plutonium.

In the Lovington Ice Advanced 105 it was Dylan Deutrom who took the honours with a score of 67.50% on El Zorro. Diane Hogg followed up in second on 65.90% riding her own Birchcol Masaria and Rebecca Johnstone-Harman took third with 64.58% on Donnergott.

Local rider Sara Gallop had two great rides in the LeMieux FEI Grand Prix, winning with Summerhouse Zelham and also placing third with Summerhouse Bandreo, scoring 68.44% and 66.08% respectively. The two Summerhouse horses were separated by Emile Faurie and Bohemo Tinro on 67.04%.

It was another whitewash for Team GB’s stellar para riders in the CPEDI3* classes today as the prizes for both the individual and team tests were announced. In the team competition Great Britain, consisting of Sophie Wells, Erin Orford, Natasha Adkinson and Julie Payne, took a commanding victory as they finished fifty five points clear of nearest rivals Ireland. A strong team from Spain finished third while the popular riders from Hong Kong came fourth.

In the Grade V Individual Championship Test Sophie Wells continued her fine form with a win on her own C Fatal Attraction; she posted a huge score of 73.952% which left her almost 7% clear of Charlotte Cundall and KBIS Starchaser. Spain’s Olga Jorda Brase took third place with Luna CCL, just under 2.6% behind Charlotte after scoring 64.643%. Successful Paralympian Sophie, who was a team and individual gold medalist in Rio, said: “I was delighted with my test, I felt I rode much stronger today so I’m really pleased with the result.”

Also continuing her winning form was Izzy Palmer, who again claimed top spot with 71.195% in the Grade IV competition. This time her two rides, Pinnochio and Touchdown, were separated by fellow British rider Nicky Greenhill who was less than 0.2% behind in second riding Gregorian Chant.

There was a fantastic one-two for Suzanna Hext who again claimed victory with the Hutton’s Abira in the Grade III competition, beating her own score of 70.735% on LJT Engaards Solitaire to win on 73.412%. Susanna was a successful event rider before a life-changing accident caused her career to take a different path. Erin Orford claimed third place with Nirvana Morroko, less than 1% behind on a final score of 69.794%.

Natasha Adkinson added a valuable score of 73% to the team total when topping the Grade II competition with Yvonne Bennett’s Sweet Caledonia. Meanwhile Georgia Wilson had a fast turnaround, with less than an hour between her two rides, but made it count as she finished second with Chico III (68.088%) and third with Lordanos Lover (67.647%).

Julie Payne not only posted the highest score in the Grade I but she also had the highest score of the competition across the grades riding Di Redfern’s Athene Lindebjerg to an impressive 75.822%. Mari Duward-Akhurst came second riding Sky O’Hara, scoring 69.286%, and Natasha Pui Ting Tse from Hong Kong improved on Wednesday’s performance to finish third with New Washington’s Edition.

There are three more days of top class dressage ahead and entry is just £6 a day for Friday 7th – Sunday 9th July. Tickets for the star-studded gala evening on Saturday are still available at £16.50 which includes day entry. Entry for under-16s and parking is free all week.